Blood before faction
by coadhpgg
Summary: Beatrice Prior believed in blood before faction, despite what society told her to believe, after all blood runs thicker than water. That's why Beatrice chose Abnegation, that's why Four left dauntless and became factionless, there was nothing left for him there. You would have thought their paths would never cross, but the factionless man at the end of the street begs to differ.
1. Chapter 1

**note: hey,this plot bunny came to me after re reading the bit in insurgent where Tobias is under truth serum and admits he would have left dauntless and became factionless if it wasn't for Tris, and its been bugging me ever since, so enjoy!**

**R&R please :)**

Beatrice passes the factionless every day.

That's why she carries extra food in her bag, it was to give to the poor souls sitting on the side of the street, but she had now passed abnegation initiation and on more than one occasion, she had ended up giving the factionless her lunch, she was selfless like that.

She could see three factionless people lying next to the building she was approaching, she fiddled for three bags of apples in her grey satchel.

The first factionless was a child who looked like she had lived through no more than seven summers.

Her sunken face and tear streaked cheeks teased Beatrice.

_Come on Beatrice _they called

_I deserve so much more than just a measly bag of apples._

_Don't be selfish Beatrice._

She approached the child, the girl looked up.

"excuse me miss, do you happen to have any food?" the girl asked, her voice was like honey, sweet and rich, but Beatrice could bet that too much would make her sick.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Beatrice said, trying to muster up a smile.

She handed the girl a bag of apples.

The girl looked at her with large honey brown eyes.

"Thank you miss." She said, before taking an apple and nibbling on it.

But the girls face taunted her again.

_Come on, do you really think some apples will fill me up? I'll be eating these for the next two weeks. So much for variety._

Beatrice ignored her thoughts.

"You're very welcome." She said.

_Selfish, _replied the voice in her head.

…

The next person she encountered was and older man.

"Excuse me miss, do you happen to have any food?"

Those were the lines all the factionless used when they wanted some food, Beatrice was used to it; she had another five bags of apples in her satchel.

She handed one to the man.

"Oh, I've had so many apples in my time, not much else, and these won't really fill me up, I wish I had a real lunch, brown bread… nice chicken breast, maybe some peas." The factionless man said dreamily

Beatrice knew that the factionless man knew that that was the food she had packed for her lunch.

Beatrice felt she was being manipulated, the factionless man, knew exactly where to hit her.

"How lovely." She said through gritted teeth "maybe one day you'll get your dream… well. Enjoy your apples."

She walked away from the man, but not far enough that she hadn't heard him say.

"Fat excuse for abnegation you are."

She held her head high and continued walking.

…

Beatrice almost walked straight past the third factionless. She hadn't been asked for food, but this happened before, no matter how rarely, Beatrice knew what to do.

She walked back to the man, who looked no older than she was, he had his legs curled into himself and his forearms rested on his knees, his head was down on his forearms, she saw his dark hair which looked like it hadn't been washed in a while, but then again, where would a factionless person go to shower?

Beatrice could tell from the size of his legs and torso that he was very tall, and his arms were long and thick, he could have once been in dauntless.

"Excuse me sir," Beatrice started, when he did not tally, she continued "do you want some food?"

"no." he replied simply, not lifting his head or moving from his position, his voice was strong and deep.

Beatrice was taken aback, no factionless had ever replied "no" before.

"Really…" she said nervously, "I have apples, you could even have a sandwich from my lunch if you want." She said, trying to coax him into talking up her offer.

He laughed, it was a deep musical sound, and still, he did not lift his head up.

"I'm not that desperate," he said.

"Really?"

His head whipped up quickly and swiftly, she gasped, he had the deepest darkest eyes she had seen in her life, he had slight stubble coming in, covering his strong jawline, and he was easily the most handsome man she had ever seen.

But she wouldn't let that faze her.

"Are you sure?"

He stood up, she was right, he was tall, he easily towered over her.

In one swift motion, twisted her arm around her back and pinned her to the wall.

She panicked.

He spoke in a low whisper, but still undeniably harsh.

"I said, I don't want any food, I'm not desperate, none of us are, and I could easily dislocate your shoulder right now if you try to argue."

That confused Beatrice, what did he mean "none of us are"? Of course they were desperate; they were factionless for god's sake.

He twisted her arm a little, she winced in pain.

Her heart thumped in her chest, her hands were wet with sweat, she didn't know this feeling very well, but she knew what it was.

Fear.

And the only way to get out of this was to conquer it.

Quickly, she elbowed him in the chest, stunning him so he let go of her arm, she suddenly turned around and pinned him to the wall opposite.

She expected him to be angry, but he just raised his eyebrows in amusement,

"Pretty good for a stiff," he remarked, nodding in approval

She said nothing

"I thought stiffs aren't meant to hurt people."

That made her feel a little bad but she didn't loosen her grip.

"Are you sure you don't want any food?" she said, smirking

He shook his head and smiled.

"I like you, what's your name?"

"Beatrice," she replied. Looking at his collarbone, where his shirt sagged just enough for her to see a tattoo of the abnegation sign, which really contradicted itself, only the dauntless had tattoos but why would he have one of the abnegation sign?

"I don't like that name, it's a stiff name, I'm going to call you Tris, I'm four by the way."

"Four?" she scoffed "like the number?"

"Yes do you have a problem?" he challenged.

"As a matter of fact I do, that's a stupid name, do your parents hate you or something?"

His eyes darkened, and his playful smile dropped. Beatrice was suddenly afraid she had done something wrong.

She was suddenly aware how close she was to the factionless man "four" the abnegation don't gossip, but if someone saw her, shed be that talk of the town.

"See you soon four." She said, letting go of him

"See you soon dauntless." He replied as she walked away, a ghost of a smile on his face.

Dauntless? He knew she wasn't dauntless, he even called her stiff, was that just a Freudian slip? Beatrice doubted it, he sounded so sure of himself.

As Beatrice walked away, she wondered if she would really be seeing "four" soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**"love is many things- none of them are logical"**

** -William Goldman "the princess bride"**

Beatrice watched the Dauntless jump off the train, screaming with adrenaline, she wondered what it would be like to be Dauntless, to jump of trains and buildings every day.

To be _free._

No Beatrice, no jealousy, jealousy is selfish.

She had been thinking like that ever since she met the factionless man "Four" he had said "see you soon"

She hadn't.

It had been four months since she met him, she found herself carrying an extra sandwich every day for him just in case she saw him. She had also found herself getting more and more selfish.

Why did she even care so much anyway, he pinned her against a wall and threatened to beat the crap out of her, really she should be happy she hadn't seen him, help avoid serious injury.

Still, the weight of the extra sandwich in her sack thought otherwise.

…

Beatrice liked the smell of wet pavement, it was raining and she found herself walking slower breathing in the gritty smell of rainwater and pavement.

Or it could be because she was passing the area where she met Four.

No, she was definitely walking slower so she could inhale the scent of wet pavement.

Definitely.

She passed the exact spot where she met Four, and looked around discreetly for the tall silhouette of the factionless man.

He wasn't there.

She stood there for around five seconds, as if he was magically going to sense she was there and appear out of nowhere.

If he actually wanted to see her.

She shouldn't expect things from people, that was selfish.

A voice tore her from her thoughts, she aware that she had been standing in the same spot for much longer than five seconds.

"Waiting for someone?" The voice called out

She recognised the unique deep timbre of that voice, the musical sound hitting her ears.

She whipped around.

"Four?"

…..

"That's me." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Why don't you come spend some time with me? It's almost lunch anyway."

Beatrice tried to ignore the shameless flirting; he was just trying to provoke her.

Yet, the shameless flirting made her heart race.

"Only if you don't pin me to a wall and threaten to beat the crap out of me." She said, more confident than she felt.

He chuckled "scared much?"

"Nope, just trying to avoid a trip to the hospital."

"Shouldn't you agree to my invitation straight away? You're Abnegation."

"Yeah, well I was never really cut out for my faction." Beatrice said, instantly covering her mouth with her hand, she had just revealed one of her biggest secrets to an almost stranger in passing conversation!

"Oh, I already knew that." He replied, letting it slide.

What's that supposed to mean?

Beatrice decided to ignore the last part of the conversion.

"So…Tris, you coming?"

Beatrice whipped her head around, she surveyed her surroundings, as far as she could tell, they were alone. Who is he even talking to?

"Who are you even talking to?" she asked, her voice laced with confusion.

"I'm talking to the pavement." He said bluntly, Beatrice didn't miss the roll of his eyes.

"Oh, right… Tris, Beatrice, I get it." She said, deciding she liked the name Tris better, even if it sounded more Dauntless than Abnegation.

He gave her half smile. "What are you talking about? I said I was talking to the pavement."

Be-Tris couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped her mouth.

"You think you're so clever." Beatrice said. "Note my use of the word "think""

"Hey, you're just as bad as me" Four said, his hand reached out to touch something, she watched his and in wonder, what was he going to do?

He touched her shoulder.

. .

She filched and took a step back, blinking at him.

He sighed. "Sometimes… I forget you're a stiff." He said, shaking his head "just come with me."

Cautiously, Tris (who liked the way the name Tris rolled of her tongue) followed four to the corner where she first met him, it wasn't ideal, but the roof of the building jutted out over the corner, shielding them from the wind and rain.

Besides, Tris could smell the wet pavement from here.

Tris liked the smell of wet pavement.

Four whipped around to look at her.

"So do I." he said

"So do you what?" Tris replied.

"Like the smell of wet pavement."

Did she really say that out loud?

Oh god.

Four and Tris sat down on the wet pavement, they both inhaled the scent at the same time.

"You got any food in that sack of yours?" four asked

"Well, yeah, I have an extra sandwich, I hope you like chicken." Tris replied, reaching into her sack for the extra sandwich she carried around just for a moment like this,

"Yeah, chicken is good." Four said looking slightly uncomfortable in having to ask for food "why do you have an extra sandwich anyway? Expecting someone?"

"Abnegation always carry extra food." Tris said, trying to avoid a wonderfully awkward admission.

"Yeah, but not sandwiches," Four persisted.

"Do you want food of not? Just drop it." Tris snapped

Four held his hands up in mock surrender, Tris reluctantly handed him a sandwich that was meant for him anyway and took her own.

"Thank you." He said

Thanking people before eating food. An abnegation trait.

Four was more complicated than she originally thought.

….

They finished most of Tris' food, leaving only a few bags of apples for other factionless people.

"My lunch hour is almost over, I better go," Tris said.

"That's cool. What do you do again?" Four asked, rubbing his hands together for warmth, the weather had taken a turn for the worse.

Tris gave him a lopsided smile.

"Supplying food to the factionless."

Four grinned, he seldom grinned, this was a rare occurrence, and his whole face (including the deep blue eyes" lit up.

He looked even handsomer when he smiled.

Nope. Shake the unhealthy thoughts away, Tris.

"You're good at your job." Said Four

"I like to think so," Tris said as she gathered her stuff up to go.

"Goodbye Four."

"Goodbye… Dauntless."

Again with the Dauntless? She decided not to question him on it as she walked away.

For the first time in ages, she felt truly happy.

As she walked away, Tris breathed in the smell of wet pavement.

Tris liked the smell of wet pavement.


End file.
